


Working Women

by kuonji



Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-06
Updated: 2012-08-06
Packaged: 2017-11-11 14:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuonji/pseuds/kuonji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>It'd started out as a game.  </em>But it all ends mostly the same way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Working Women

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Links:  
> <http://starskyhutch911.livejournal.com/358397.html>

It'd started out as a game.

He was one of a dozen pretty men I flirted with and teased, just because I could. It broke the monotony of ugly, middle-aged sleazebags who ordered me around, just because _they_ could. And he had an engaging smile and a twinkly-eyed confidence that I liked to fantasize about. He had the sort of face that my imagination could happily supply with any of a collection of exotic or wholesome backgrounds.

Then I found out that he was a cop, and it became a challenge.

I turned on everything I had, doing my best to snare him. If I could have dinner with a detective and make him believe that I was a successful writer... If I could bring a police sergeant to my home and my bed and have him believe that I was an ordinary woman... If I could go out with this intelligent, perceptive, beautiful man who could have any woman he wanted -- and he chose me...

Well. That would mean something, wouldn't it?

Then I found out that he was in love with me, and it should have ended.

I _should_ have cut and run. I _should_ have broken up with him firmly. I _should_ have told him the truth and then mocked him cruelly for it, to ensure that he would never come near me ever again.

But it was all too late.

Because I had fallen in love with him.

***

Hutch is my big brother. At least, he's what I've always wanted in one. He's big and strong and handsome. And he looks out for me. For other people, too, of course. But I like to think that he has a li'l ol' soft spot for Mickey.

Gosh, Hutch was so mad when he busted me the first time. He gave me that cold-eyed stare (this was back when he _scared_ me) and yelled. I thought he was gonna hit me, but of course he didn't. I guess then he felt bad about it, because after I was booked and everything, he came to see me, and he sat me down and gave me an honest-to-god talking-to. I was surprised he didn't pat me on the head and ask me to promise to be good!

He keeps trying to get me to go home. But you know, he's a cop. He just doesn't understand. There's nothing for me to go back to. I'm having fun for now, and I have all the 'dates' a girl can want -- plus I get paid for it. And I don't need rehab. Everyone knows the cops just say the stuff is so bad for you because they're not making any money out of it. Plus, they ain't never tried it themselves.

I tried to get Hutch to fly with me one time. (I guess I was already a little high.) He looked kinda scared for a second. I don't know why, but he always thinks I'm such a kid, he probably never thought I might get into that kind of trouble. And then...! Man, if I thought he was mad before...

He's real uptight, but I love him. My Hutch. He's everything a big brother ought to be. He really is.

Every time I do something I know the law says I shouldn't, I get this happy little thrill, 'cause I wonder if maybe I'll get to see him again.

***

I've known Hutch for a long time. All the girls on his beat, we get to know him before too long, on account of he's special. Some of the other cops, like his partner Starsky, are nice to us working girls. But Hutch is really _kind_. Just looking at him makes you feel safe-like, somehow. When a girl's in trouble -- the bad kind of trouble where even the cops are the best option -- she knows which cop to call.

Maybe he's so nice because there's lots o' girls don't mind givin' him help. When he asks you for information with that soft voice of his and that earnest look... it makes you feel right sorry if you don't have anything to tell him. And if you ask, he always gives you a little something for it, even if it's only a fiver and a sad, apologetic look.

He says the most innocent, heartbreaking things, too: "Get yourself something pretty," he says. Or, "Get yourself something good to eat." I never know whether or not to laugh or cry for lying to him when I nod. But then, he's not a dummy, so I'm sure he knows better. He just likes to talk that way.

He's like that.

There's lots o' girls want to give him more than help, and I guess I'm one of 'em. I was shy the first time. Shy! Imagine that. Was prettier then, too. I still give it a go, whenever he and his partner come by, even though the answer's always the same. I've never heard of a single girl who got him to take the offer.

He's like that, too.

There's something nice about offering anyway, though. The way he turns you down, he always makes it sound like he's real sorry to. Like you're worth something.

I'm careful, of course. A cop's a cop, and for all he's so kind, he ain't no pushover. We all know that, too.

But sometimes, when the boys aren't askin' for Roxy so much anymore, and when the only thing more scarce than the boys is the buyers, a girl wants to be silly for a second and see a white knight where there's only a man.

***

Handsome Hutch. That's what I call him, because that's what he is. Inside and out.

He calls me Alice, or Sweet Alice, or sometimes just Sweetness. It gives me a shiver whenever he does that. I feel like I am what he says when I'm with him. I feel _sweet_ and _innocent_. Girlish. It doesn't make any sense, but that's how it is, and I love it.

I don't love _him_. I know that. This girl has been around for a long time, long enough to know that a girl like me can't really love a cop. And a cop like he is can't love me.

I tell him I'll go straight one day, but it's all a dreamy lie, and we both know it.

There's only two ways to get out of this business alive. One is to make a pile of money doing something you oughtn't -- and then get the hell out of Dodge. The other is to find a rich man to marry. Both would lose me Hutch anyway.

So I don't love him.

I love myself when I'm with him.

And that's enough for me.

  
END.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this story, you might try these:    
>      [Not So Different](http://community.livejournal.com/starskyhutch911/236122.html) (Starsky & Hutch), by kuonji    
>      [Den Lille Arkaeolog](http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/17031.html) (Stargate SG-1), by kuonji    
>      [Dreams By Moonlight](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1954754/1/) (Cardcaptor Sakura), by kuonji    
>      [Girls Like Alice](http://salieri.bonuspoints.net/SH/GirlsLikeAlice.shtml) (Starsky & Hutch), by Salieri  
>      [Coming Clean](http://community.livejournal.com/starskyhutch911/5454.html) (Starsky & Hutch), by Vedette Ciel  
>  


End file.
